Michigan Wolverines news: A recruiting miss, two no hitters for Lauren Derkowski, and more
It was an incredible weekend for Michigan Wolverines softball pitcher Lauren Derkowski, who threw two no-hitters. We also have Michigan football recruiting updates and more on the Wolverines.
On Friday, four-star tight end Max LeBlanc released a top four that included the Michigan Wolverines, along with Ohio State, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
LeBlanc who is ranked as the No. 12 tight end in the 2024 class according to the 247 Sports composite rankings, visited Michigan football before the end of spring ball. He also took a recent trip to Ohio State and in this instance, the Buckeyes won out.
LeBlanc announced his commitment to Ohio State on Saturday and it’s been part of a big run of commitments for OSU which includes a top-100 quarterback, a top-100 running back, and a five-star wide receiver in 2024.
As we also wrote earlier this weekend, the Wolverines should be just fine at tight end in the 2024 class. Hogan Hansen is already committed and is ranked among the top 10 at this position, although Miami is pushing for a flip.
Michigan football is also the leader for in-state tight end Brady Prieskorn. As long as the Wolverines get his commitment, whatever else happens at tight end won’t matter that much.
In another bit of bad news for Michigan football, Aaron Scott, one of the top cornerbacks on the board for U-M, got another crystal ball for Ohio State.
Scott is from the state of Ohio. Bryce West, another top-100 cornerback from Ohio, has also been trending to the Buckeyes, so keep an eye on Jamir Benjamin, who just decommitted from Stanford.
Michigan football is the leader via the On3 prediction machine and the Wolverines could be making a push now that things are trending in the wrong direction with other targets.
Lauren Derkowski tosses two no-hitters for Michigan Wolverines softball
Nobody in Michigan Wolverines athletics had a better weekend than Lauren Derkowski who dominated for Michigan softball on the mound against Purdue.
On Friday, Derkowski was unhittable — literally and struck out 14 Purdue batters as the Michigan Wolverines notched a 4-0 victory in a no-hitter.
There was just one walk allowed that prevented it from being a perfect game. Ellie Mataya and Melina Livingston both went yard at the plate, giving the Wolverines enough offense to take the win.
On Saturday, after dropping the second game of the series 3-2 to the Boilermakers, Derkowski took things into her own hands by tossing her second straight no-hitter in a 5-0 win.
This time, Derkowski walked two batters, struck out seven, and needed just 79 pitches to give the Michigan Wolverines their 22nd win of the season and their third consecutive win of a Big Ten series.
Michigan softball is currently fourth in the Big Ten standings with an 8-5 record. Northwestern is running away with the regular-season title right now at 13-1.
Rough weekend improving for Michigan baseball
The Michigan baseball team started the weekend just one game back in the loss column of first place in the Big Ten but it’s been a rough two days.
On Friday, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights blasted the Wolverines by a score of 13-0, and in the second game of the series on Saturday, it looked like more of the same as U-M fell behind 6-0.
However, after watching their ace Connor O’Halloran, get torn apart on Friday, the offense finally got going on Saturday and Ted Burton had just tied the game with Rutgers, 6-6, on a three-run home run when the weather caused it to be stopped.
Former Michigan Football RB Chris Howard looks ahead to 2023. dark. Next
The Wolverines and Rutgers will finish the second game of their series this morning at 10:30 AM EST, before playing the third and final game of the weekend afterward.